324. Gender-reversed Mackers

Macbeth is already one of those plays that is incredibly gripping right from the start, so when a new layer is added – like the genders of each character being reversed – it turns the play into something even more thrilling.

Billy Christopher Maupin is directing just such a production for Richmond Shakespeare’s Second Tuesday series (even though this takes place on the first Tuesday…ah, who’s counting?). The Facebook event describes the production’s intent:

What if Macbeth’s struggle with masculinity were viewed through the eyes of a woman? What resonance might one find if a man were to plead “Unsex me here! And fill me from the crown to the toe topful of direst cruelty”? Or if a female Malcolm says “Dispute it like a man” and a striking young blond woman turns to him and says “I shall do so; but I must also feel it as a man.” Come find out on October 5, when Melissa Johnston Price steps into this iconic role that is so “steeped in blood,” as she is joined by Brandon Mears (graduate of the Shakespeare Theatre Academy for Classical Acting) as Lady Macbeth, and Molly Hood as Macduff, as well as Ali Walton, Alan Sader, Annie Zanetti, Carolyn Meade, Ellie Wilson, Jacqueline Jones, Jamie Rees, Jennifer Hammond, Jennifer Martin, Jody Strickler, Katrinah Lewis, Kyle Billeter, Laurel Maughan, Maggie Roop, Meg Price, Rebecca Anne Muhleman, Robert Throckmorton, Russell Rowland, Shirley Kagan and more! You don’t want to miss this gender-reversed staged reading of one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.